DEPARTMENT
OF EDUCATION
P.O.
SUPTS. MEMO NO. 005
August 22, 2008
REGULATORY
|
TO: |
Division Superintendents |
|
FROM: |
Superintendent of Public Instruction |
|
SUBJECT: |
Certification of Adequate Funds Due:
October 1, 2008 |
Section 22.1-94, Code of Virginia, requires local
governing bodies to appropriate funds to school divisions that are sufficient
to maintain an educational program that meets the Standards of Quality
(SOQ). Section 22.1-97, Code of Virginia, sets forth the procedure that the
Department of Education must follow if a county, city, or town fails to
appropriate sufficient local funding to support the SOQ. The appropriation act also directs the
department to follow certain procedures for calculating required local effort
as well as procedures to follow if a school division does not spend the
required state and local shares for the SOQ.
In addition to procedures for calculating required local
effort for the SOQ, Item 140 of Chapter 879, 2008 Acts of Assembly (2008-2010 Appropriation
Act), requires the Department of Education to ensure that school divisions have
appropriated sufficient local funds to meet required local matches for optional
School Facilities, Incentive, and Lottery programs in which they have elected
to participate. The appropriation act requires local school divisions to
certify to the department their intent to participate in School Facilities, Incentive,
and Lottery programs for fiscal year 2009 by October 1, 2008, and requires that
the department ensure that sufficient local funds have been appropriated before
releasing state funds for such programs.
Attachment A to this memorandum provides the complete
language for the referenced Code and appropriation
act sections.
For the fiscal year 2009
Please note that each jointly-operated school division (
PART I
Part I of the RLE/RLM data
collection will collect the various budgeted expenditure data necessary to calculate
required local effort for SOQ programs and required local matches for the
School Facilities and Lottery programs.
Each division will complete an Excel template for Part I, which is
located on the department's website and can be downloaded from the following
address:
http://www.doe.virginia.gov/VDOE/Finance/Budget/cdc/index.html
The Excel template contains several spreadsheets that will
calculate required local effort for mandatory SOQ programs (Basic Aid, Gifted
Education, Vocational Education, Special Education, Prevention, Intervention
and Remediation, English as a Second Language, Fringe Benefits, and Textbooks)
and required local matches for the optional School Facilities program (School
Construction Grants Program) and Lottery programs (At-Risk, Virginia Preschool
Initiative, Early Reading Intervention, K-3 Primary Class Size Reduction, SOL
Algebra Readiness, and Additional Support for School Construction and Operating
Costs) for fiscal year 2009.
Instructions for completing the Excel template are included
in Attachment B to this memorandum. Attachment
C to this memorandum provides the account code structure for the Annual School
Report Financial Section (ASRFIN) that is referenced within the data collection
template. School divisions should consult
the account code structure when completing this data collection.
The Excel template
provides a summary of required local effort for the SOQ and the required local
match for each program listed in the previous paragraph based on fiscal year
2009 funding levels pursuant to the Chapter 879 budget.
Divisions
are given the option to calculate required local effort and required local
matches for programs where the
funding is based on March 31 average daily membership (ADM) using either the
department's latest ADM projections or locally developed ADM projections. The first step in the data collection will
determine whether sufficient local funds have been appropriated to maintain
required local effort for the SOQ based on division-provided data regarding
planned operating expenditures and specific adjustments for certain state,
federal, and local funds for fiscal year 2009.
Superintendents of school divisions whose local
appropriations for fiscal year 2009 are only slightly in excess of the amount
required to maintain local effort for the SOQ are requested to review their ADM
totals monthly. These superintendents
must request additional local funding from the local governing body whenever
changes in ADM increase the amount of required local effort beyond what has
been provided by the local governing body.
Documentation of all supplemental appropriations for fiscal year 2009
should be furnished to the department.
The template will then calculate the amount of local capital
funds that are available to meet local match requirements for the School
Facilities program and the remaining amount of local operating funds available
to meet local match requirements for School Facilities and Lottery programs
(i.e., remaining operating funds available after required local effort for the
SOQ has been met). Each division will
also be required to enter any additional expenditures for the Virginia
Preschool Initiative (VPI) that are excluded from the net FY 2009 local
expenditures for operations (see section 1 of the
PART
II
Part II of the RLE/RLM data collection will be completed using
the Single Sign-on for Web
Systems (SSWS). Each division will log into the site
and upload the Excel file from Part I using the following address:
https://p1pe.doe.virginia.gov/ssws/login.page.do
Once the file has been successfully uploaded to SSWS,
instructions will be provided to complete Part II of the submission. Part II will provide the ability for each
division to opt-in or opt-out of programs that require a local match or to
prioritize such programs if there are not enough local operating funds to
support participation in all eligible programs.
Once a division has successfully completed Parts I and II,
the certification forms for each program will be made available in SSWS. A hard copy of each certification form should
be signed by the division superintendent and then mailed to the following
address:
Attention:
Attachment B to this memorandum provides detailed
instructions for accessing the Excel template through the department's Web
site; for completing the template to calculate projected required local effort
and required local matches; and for uploading the Excel file to SSWS and
submitting the signed certification forms to the department.
The data submission, including Parts I and II, and the
signed certification forms are due to the department no later than October 1, 2008,
as required by the appropriation act.
If you have questions regarding the Excel template or the
accompanying instructions, please contact the budget office at (804) 225-2025.
BKCJr/shd
Attachments
a. Relevant RLE and RLM Legal Citations (PDF)
b. Instructions for Completing the 2007-2008 RLE/RLM Data Collection (PDF)
c. Account Structure for 2007-2008 ASRFIN (PDF)